Kinect doesn't snoop for advertising

Kinect won't spy on you and gather data to tailor advertising with - despite Microsoft bragging of exactly this feature last week.

"Xbox 360 and Xbox Live do not use any information captured by Kinect for advertising targeting purposes," Microsoft assured the Wall Street Journal.

"Microsoft has a strong track record of implementing some of the best privacy protection measures in the industry.

"We place great importance on the privacy of our customers' information and the safety of their experiences."

That's a dramatic U-turn on what Xbox chief financial officer Dennis Durkin said last week.

With Kinect, Microsoft can be "more targeted about what content choices we present," he told a BMO Capital Markets crowd (reported by Digital Trends).

He used these examples: "What advertising we present; how to get better feedback and data; about how many people are in a room when an advertisement is shown; how many people are in a room when a game is being played."

Kinect, Durkin said, could watch you watching a sports game and be able to determine what team you support because of the clothes - replica kit - you wore.

It's not a million miles away from how Facebook targets its advertising.